Hi, Phil. Tempting though the thought might be to buy soneone else's client- list and thus save yourself the time and effort of establishing your own, I would adivse against it. Starting out doing work for a dealer or two in your area and slowly developing your own clientel on the side is the way to go. Here's why. (You KNEW there was a story coming, didn't you?!). A number of years ago a fairly well-established tuner, we'll call him "H", called me about buying his client list. He was going to be leaving the area (he was about 40 miles, or so away), needed the money and had decided that I "deserved" first crack it buying it. "H" had a reputation as a "sharpie", the kind of person who, if you shook hands with him, afterwards you always counted your fingers to make sure that they were all still there; the kind of person with whom I would never, ever do business under ANY circumstances. I told him that I wasn't interested, hung up the phone, sprayed it with Lysol disinfectant to make sure that I didn't "catch" anything from the phone call and promptly forgot about the whole thing for about a year. About a year later I was talking with a good technician friend of mine, who lived about 75 miles away. "Scott" is not only a fine technician, but also a straight-shooter--as honest a businessman as you'll ever find. Scott, that day, was "singin' the blue's". Big-time. It seems that after I turned down "H's" offer to sell me his list, the next person he con- tacted was "Scott". Scott went for it; about a thousand names, a five bucks apiece. It included some IC work for a local college, several schools, etc, and looked like a good deal. At first. "H" was supposed to contact everyone on the list and let them know that Scott would be taking over, but he never did. Instead, Scott, himself sent out letters and made phone calls and for a while it looked like everything would work out OK. The "Honeymoon" lasted about six months. The, suddenly, when Scott would contact someone on the list, they were no longer interested in having him service their piano, or the had found "someone else". The list dried up almost overnight. Perplexed Scott start- ed asking some questions and guess what? You got it! "H" had moved back into the area, had contacted every customer on the list and told them that he would once again be taking over the tuning work. When Scott con- fronted "H" face to face, "H" only comment was "Hey, I've got to make a living, too!" I advised Scott to sue, but I don't think he ever did. In- stead he just chalked it up to experience. In the meantime "H" is still out there, ripping people off, left and right. Then people wonder why I sometimes sound cynical!!!!! Les Smith lessdmith@buffnet.net On Tue, 25 Mar 1997, Phil Bondi wrote: > ...recently called all the tuners listed in the phonebook here, just to say > hello and to lend a hand if they ever needed one..basically, just offering > my services...I called 6..2 replied..They are not interested in the PTG..it > won't *do anything* for them....so much for the friendly phonecall..!!.. > > ..the tech for the local Yamaha dealership is leaving town..he has aquired a > decent client-base...the dealership believes he needs a tech to *take over* > his business...question here is..do you offer to *buy* his client-base, or > see if he just hands over his book and says *good luck*..??..my initial > reaction is that it's a business and that business would go to the highest > bidder...comments..??.. > > > >
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